“Okay, but how does that show marital status?”
“Because he also found shards of gold that appear to have been a plain, unadorned piece of thin jewelry.”
“A wedding band.”
The two sat silently for several minutes, with his own thoughts. Each praying that Wally had been unconscious or dead before all this happened to him, but knowing that anger-driven violence such as this does not allow for mercy.
Chapter 7
During the next few days, the various police agencies had copies of Sica’s photo sent out to the sundry places it was believed that he had been spotted. Peter was reminded of stories of ancient times where messengers were dispatched to the far corners of the kingdom rarely to be heard from again. Deputy Dawson and his partner both identified Sica as the guy who was asking questions about the body found in the wall in Lake George. Likewise, the witnesses to the shoot up at the nightclub agreed that Sica was the fellow in the argument who fired a round into the ceiling.
Another photo went down to the Colonie P.D. and it was not long before they called back to say that they had collected some information on his comings and goings in their town.
The task force meeting took place as scheduled and Peter was impressed by the law enforcement firepower in the room. In addition to Tanner Saint and Abe Dorn, there were representatives of State Police Special Investigations Unit, Immigration and Naturalization Service and Colonie P.D. Peter was amazed, and a little embarrassed, to realize that he was the only prosecutor in the room.
Peter was introduced to the INS agents, Special Agent David Grace and his boss, Special Agent in Charge Henry Bradley. Grace, Peter soon learned, was a former Army Special Forces non-commissioned officer (NCO) who had spent time in the Border Patrol working the Mexican border for drug smugglers and illegal aliens. It came as no surprise to Peter that Grace was former military. In fact, since joining the Albany DA’s Office, Peter had been pleased to discover that a high percentage of law enforcement of all sorts had started out in the armed forces. Viet Nam-era men could also be found in the ranks of prosecutors and it was also common to find vets among the judges, generally of the World War II or Korean conflict vintage. Peter’s old boss, the Albany County District Attorney was a WWII Navy veteran. Even though he had not served in wartime, Peter enjoyed a slightly favored status among these people because he, too, was a vet.
SA David Grace’s boss, Henry Bradley could not have been more different from Grace in appearance, more like a school teacher than a federal agent. The two, however, made a formidable team, as Peter soon discovered.
A loud whoop and a painfully poor Elmer Fudd imitation told Peter that he had been spotted by the Colonie P.D. contingent. In addition to Detective Sergeant Jay Gainley, Investigator Andy Zant and Sergeant Steve Heinemann, Peter was pleased to see Lieutenant Ray Kroller who ran the investigations section of the that police department. It was a warm and boisterous reunion. Peter regretted that it had to be cut short to get down to business.
Once introductions and greetings had been exchanged, the possible topics for this meeting were discussed. While Sica’s act of shooting the ceiling at the nightclub was not thought to be significant as crimes go, the topic of the argument might be. His activities in the Colonie area were consistent with him having to support himself. Sica's interest in "Wally" was intriguing but inexplicable until "'Wally's" story was known. It was, therefore, decided to focus on the intelligence gathered on Sica.
Collecting and analyzing a comprehensive list of Sica’s business acquaintances was going to be a long, drawn-out process. The SIU contingent got the ball rolling by handing out copies of their up-to-date chart of Sica’s known associates who were identified during the surveillance operation done in Lake George, together with what had been learned from the several year investigation of Greek-Italian criminal activity in the Capital Region. When Peter was handed his copy, he could not help but smile, as he looked down at the circles and squares, connected by a spider web of solid and dotted lines. He had learned, from his work in drug investigations, that this type of association chart was beloved by police everywhere, and the more intricate, the better.
The geometric shapes without names in them signified unidentified persons. These symbols were generally grouped under headers reading: Genovese Family, Patriarca Family, Manzini family, Siderno family, Scibelli family. While Peter had heard of the Genovese crime family as being one of the five families of La Cosa Nostra, he had never heard of the others. As he understood it, La Cosa Nostra was a loose union of the five largest organized crime (OC) families in New York City, complete with its own government, the Commission. As he continued to scan the sheet, Peter again began to feel seriously out of his depth. All around the table, the participants were chatting about the names on this chart, exchanging information and anecdotes about a number of them with an air of familiarity that Peter did not share.
After listening quietly for a while, Peter asked the one question that jumped out of the chart at him.
“Does anyone have any idea how Sica, or whatever his name is, is associated with any of these groups? It sounds like all of the others are connected by the fact that each has something another needs and something to offer in return. What has Sica got, and what can he offer?”
Agent Grace leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head, and drawled, “Well. You have hit the nail on the head, alright. Not bad, for a lawyer,” he finished with a smile. “None of this,” He waved his copy of the chart “is going to make any sense until we figure out the answers to those two questions.”
Colonie PD’s report on Sica’s recent activities based upon informants’ information, gave some new insight into Sica’s day-to-day life, although it was only bits and pieces. Sica was often seen in the company of a Guido Fortuna, the owner of a bar in Colonie known as The Playpen. This lined up with what the bartender at the Night Cap bar in Lake George had said about the campari drinker offering him a job. There were a few reports of other characters, most of them unsavory, who were associates of Sica’s, but the only real conclusion to be drawn from the sparse information at hand was that Sica might be supporting himself by selling cocaine to Albany area dealers. There was no information on where he was getting his supply from, or why he had chosen this particular location to set up shop.
SIU, in the form of Mike Connolly and Guy Lorenzo added their own information from their surveillance after the Lake George get together. Peter was beginning to appreciate that intelligence was one part gathering and four parts digesting. For every germane tidbit there were several useless snippets of gossip.
“In the fall, following the Lake George meeting, Sica was seen being introduced to a James Cocozza, the owner of a café in Watervliet, by Johnny Nasserini”, began Mike Connolly. “Over the next several months, Sica and Nasserini spent a lot of time together at Nasserini’s home and travelling around, with Nasserini introducing Sica to various significant local criminal figures.”
Peter learned that Nasserini was a twice-convicted robber, who lived across the Hudson River from Albany, in Rensselaer. Cocozza had a long history in illegal gambling and loan sharking.
“We also started to backtrack Sica’s New York driver’s license, discovering that it had replaced a license he had obtained in Massachusetts. The address on that license was Somerset Avenue in Springfield, the home of Carmine Manzini, no less.” Turning to Peter, Mike said, “You remember that Carmine’s brother, Antonio was at the Lake George meeting? Presently, they are both in Walpole prison in Massachusetts. Antonio is also wanted back in Italy for robbery and murder.”
Guy picked up the narrative: “We went another step back, and found out that the Massachusetts license had been issued based upon an Italian driver’s license that he produced. Through INTERPOL, we tried to get information on that license from the Italians. About six weeks later, we heard back from INTERPOL, that the Italians could not help us, as the driver’s license number we had supplied was incomplet
e. It was missing a three-digit province identifier that would show where the license was issued. We’re still working on that.”
Peter didn’t want to draw attention to his ignorance, but he just couldn’t help himself. He felt he would be alright with this group, if they concluded that he was stupid, but savable.
“INTERPOL? I’ve only heard about them in the movies. How did they get involved?”
SA Dave Grace’s expression was a mixture of amusement and sympathy. “It’s kind of mindboggling isn’t it? The first thing you have to understand is that INTERPOL is not a police agency. It is an organization comprised of officers and agents of the national police forces of its member nations. The purpose of INTERPOL is the gathering and distribution of information and intelligence on criminals and criminal enterprises around the world. It can broadcast alerts and warrants of its members, but that’s the extent of it. It’s more of a clearinghouse for information than an ‘international police.’
“We believe that Sica is somehow connected to the Genovese crime family through the Scibelli family in Springfield. Francesco Scibelli is a known capo for the Genovese. Sica’s associations include Adolfo Brunetto, who was also at the Lake George meeting. He is a soldier for the Scibellis.” Peter remembered that capo was the equivalent of a captain, in charge of a group, but not the boss.
At this point, Mike Connolly stood up and handed out a single page memo.
“This is a recent briefing memo from MAGLOCLEN, on the Genovese family. I thought it might be helpful, if our suspicions prove to be right.”
Peter fought back the urge to blurt out something like “What the hell is a Maglo Clen?”
Dave Grace, seeing Peter’s deer-in-the-headlight look, explained: “MAGLOCLEN stands for Middle Atlantic, Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network. It is a loose coalition of police agencies organized to share and distribute information on a more localized basis than INTERPOL.”
GENOVESE LCN FAMILY
At the present time, the Genovese LCN family is second in strength, power, and wealth to the Gambino LCN family. The estimated strength of the Genovese family is approximately 600. Two hundred and two members are named in this report. This group’s first boss in 1931 was the infamous Charles C. “Lucky” Luciano. Luciano structured the LCN organization, and it has remained basically the same to this date. Luciano was deported in 1945 and died in Italy in 1962. Vito Genovese, the underboss of the family, fled to Italy in 1937 to avoid arrest for murder. Genovese returned to the U.S. in 1946.
Frank Costello was boss of the family until he stepped down on May 2, 1957, after an attempt on his life which was ordered by Vito Genovese. Genovese became the boss (1957) until he was convicted of a narcotics conspiracy in 1959. He died in prison two years later. During Genovese’s prison term, Gerado Catena and Thomas Eboli (aka Thomas Ryan), were appointed to run the family. Catena handled the New Jersey members and Eboli the New York members of the family. Eboli was murdered on July 16, 1972, and shortly after that Catena was imprisoned. Frank Tieri then became boss of the family until his death from natural causes on March 29, 1981.
Shortly before Tieri’s death, a council of three – Vincent Gigante, Anthony Salerno and Louis Manna – ran the family while he was hospitalized. Matthew “Matty the Horse” Ianniello was acting boss for a short period after Tieri died until Vincent “Chin” Gigante was appointed.
The present leadership of the family includes Phillip “Squint” Lombardo as boss; Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno as underboss; Vincent “Chin” Gigante as acting underboss, and John Ardito as consiglieri.
While Tieri was alive, he was the Boss of Bosses, the head of the Commission. Since Tieri’s death in 1981, it is unclear who holds that position.
The Genovese family is reported to have close ties with crime boss Nicodemo Scarfo of the Bruno LCN family in Philadelphia, PA. Both families exert a great deal of influence over the labor unions in Atlantic City, NJ. The Genovese family is considered very powerful in the counties around New York City, with capos like Joe Pagano and John Masiello. They also operate in the New England area with Francesco Scibelli and have members in Connecticut and Massachusetts. They are considered one of the most powerful and influential groups in Florida.
Peter was pleased with himself for having deduced that “LCN” stood for La Cosa Nostra.
“Now, in addition to the local contacts he has been making and his participation in the Lake George meeting, we also surveilled him to a café in the Bronx, which the NYPD Intelligence Division described as being within the Genovese area of control, from which drugs are sold.”
The group soon agreed that identifying both Sica and "Wally" were the most important immediate goals. At this point, INS Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Henry Bradley offered to forward prints and pictures of Sica to INTERPOL for distribution to Italian law enforcement authorities.
"Given what Sica has been telling people about living and having a wife and kids in Naples, can we specifically reach out to the cops there?” asked Mike Connolly.
“Yes, and we may be able to have our people do that directly, if INTERPOL does not ID him soon. Our office in Rome can, hopefully, take a trip down to Naples and meet with the carabinieri there,” assured Henry Bradley.
Mike Connolly then said, “For the moment, we are going to have to keep track of him. He is due to get out of the hospital in a couple of days and we don’t have a hook into him at the moment, so we’re going to have to tail him. Where do we stand on charging him, Peter?”
Peter responded, “I suppose that we could go ahead and charge him, but if he wants a prelim, I cannot prevail at the hearing or indict him without expert testimony to prove that one or both of his documents are bogus.” In New York, a person charged with a felony and held in jail has a right to a preliminary hearing, or prelim, to determine whether there is enough evidence to continue to hold him in custody. An indictment by a Grand Jury serves the same function, but the prelim usually required the prosecution to have its ducks in a tighter row because the defense would be present and could cross-examine witnesses and could, with Court permission, call witnesses of its own. In the Grand Jury, none of this could occur, as the defendant was not allowed to be present for the proceeding, except to testify on his own behalf.
“The legal problem is that we have to show that these documents were not issued by either INS or the Social Security Administration. If they were, even with incorrect information in them, they are not forged instruments. The false documents would be the applications that had the false information written in them.”
After some mumbling among the group, Mike Connolly asked “What do you mean? They both have the name Enzo Vinci on them, and he claims to be Bruno Sica.”
“The fact that the green card and the Social Security registration form display incorrect information does not make them forgeries. They were not falsely made, completed or altered, as the statute requires, if the government agencies accurately placed the information they were given onto them. If I apply for a driver’s license in the name of Mickey Mouse, with a different date of birth, the license I receive is not a forged instrument. My application form that I filled out is a different story, because at the end of it, I swear that the information is accurate. And before we hear any smartass comments from Colonie PD, ‘no’, I am not Mickey Mouse.”
“In Sica’s case, we have to show that the government had no hand in the making of these. That they are counterfeit.”
Peter continued, “The real question is ‘do you want to take him off the street right now?’”
“We’ve already flagged his name at Customs so he can’t leave the country, unless he has other bogus papers squirreled away somewhere. Whatever he may suspect, he does not know that we are looking to charge him with possession of forged instruments, or that we have connected him to the other incidents. There’s no telling what we might learn if we let him go about his business for a while, and just watch him,” said Dave Grace, picking up on Peter�
��s train of thought.
“As he has overstayed his visitor’s visa, we have the authority to detain him at any time”, pointed out SAC Bradley. “The trouble is that he will likely be released by an Immigration judge pending his deportation hearing.”
“Meanwhile, we send Sica’s original documents to the Forensic Science Lab in McLean, Virginia. If we arrange to relay them and expedite the analysis, we should have confirmation in a few days. We just tell him that his papers were soaked in his blood and were destroyed as a health hazard and will be replaced in due course,” suggested Henry Bradley.
Wiseguys in the Woods Page 10